Western Digital acquires HDD controller maker

In an effort to create a fully integrated hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturer, Western Digital Corp. acquired ST Microelectronics’ hard drive controller (HDC) development team along with intellectual property and design tools. The company believes that with media, heads and controllers developed inside the company it can accelerate time-to-market of its products as well as make manufacturing more efficient overall.

“In June, in a further strategic step to accelerate our technology development and deployment, we acquired the hard drive controller IP rights, design tools, and design team from ST Microelectronics. This in-house HDC capability will enhance the efficiencies of our development process with our existing SOC supply partners,” said John F. Coyne, president and chief executive officer of Western Digital.

According to the head of the company, WD has been working hard to gain financial resources and to gather the fundamental technology capability to improve the fundamental efficiency from an engineering perspective and drive the business forward.